Kiely tells abusers to stay away

Limerick hurling manager John Kiely has warned abusive fans they are not welcome at games if they are not fully behind the team.

The Treatymen were subjected to a torrent of abuse following their 21-point defeat to Cork in the Munster Senior Hurling League at the Gaelic Grounds last month.

Kiely accepts only a handful of fans were involved but he has told abusive fans to stay away from Sunday's Allianz Hurling League Division 1B opener against Wexford.

“We have great support in Limerick, huge support in terms of numbers but they can be rather impatient at times and maybe lack a little bit of perspective on where things are at," Kiely is quoted as saying in the Irish Examiner.

“That day against Cork in the Munster League, there were quite a number of people in the crowd who were extremely abusive and it was not at all appropriate that players be treated like that on the day, given the amount of time and effort and work they put into preparing themselves on the pitch, and off the pitch.

"That is not something we would like to see again. We have an awful lot of decent people involved in hurling in Limerick, and if they are people out there that aren’t behind the team, we would rather they stayed away."

He went on: “They are very small in number and I would hope that the other support, the true supporters would stand up to these people and tell them that this is not appropriate and not something they should have to entertain in the crowd either.

“We have a phenomenal support, it’s only four years ago since the 2013 Munster final when the entire ground was swamped within 60 seconds of the final whistle. Go back to the 2015 U21 final in Thurles and again you saw the groundswell of people literally swamping the field. We have a phenomenal supporter base and I just hope that that base will mobilise in the weeks ahead and not in the months ahead because we need that base to help us to get up and running as soon as possible.”

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